Share this:

Like this:

It was only about a thousand lifetimes ago that we met again,
you in your snug, perfect uniform
which was unable to mask your beauty,
glaring your disapproval at me.

I was calm, despite all the reasons not to be.
I sat, watching your agile hands
moving over the control surface;
saw the dim blue light of your eyepiece projector,
giving you information about me, no doubt.

My own was gone, discarded when I realized its true purpose,
after I awoke from the slumber
and mindlessness that it induced.

Your blue light flicked off, and your attention came back to me.
You used my symbolic designation to address me,
and I held up my hand to stop you.
“Just call me Sam”, I said.
You were bemused, and asked me why.
“Because that is my name.”

You tried to explain that the system said otherwise,
but In the end, you relented, and used my name.
You said that it had been a very long time
since anybody was “inter-processed”,
and that the procedures had been lost.

I was a problem, and it made me smile.
The inter-process was supposed to be permanent.
It wasn’t, at least, not for me.
You were unsure what to do.

I called you by your name, and you looked at me sharply.
“The answer is simple,” I said:

“Dance with me.”

Before you could protest, I arose and took your hand,
lifting you.
Before you could understand how,
there was music,
and your uniform was a glittering golden gown,
and you danced, though you didn’t yet remember how,
still believing that you never had.

I whispered your name into your ear,
and told you that you were beautiful.
And you remembered.

I could see it all rushing back to you:the pale pink skies;
flying, flying so fast;
exploring the cliff-side cave;
escaping their traps and soaring faster than sound,
yet overflowing with bubbling laughter
that only we could hear.
And later, entwined together in airless space,
for an uncounted time,
watching the birth of a new sun.

You stared at me, and said, “Sam?”
And then we laughed and departed that place.

Now, cruel energies of the cosmos,
and crueler ones of others,
have reduced us both.